Pumpkin Gnocchi with Crispy Pancetta and Sage
This pumpkin gnocchi is truly the perfect fall dinner when you’re wanting something lighter but still filling. Little homemade pillows of gnocchi are smothered in a delicious browned butter sauce. Pancetta offers a rich smokiness and crisp toasted sage and garlic provide even more flavor.
Gnocchi is the easiest homemade pasta you can make, I promise. There’s no continuous rolling into sheets, no long kneading times, and no labor intensive shaping or cutting. You have everything you need already in your kitchen. A mixing bowl, a small knife and a fork.
And while the process itself isn’t difficult, it takes a bit more time. Between making the dough itself, rolling it out long and cutting and shaping, you’re looking at a good 45 minutes or so before you actually get to boil the gnocchi. BUT…once the gnocchi IS boiled and cooked through, the brown butter sauce only takes another 10-15 minutes to make and then you can EAT!
This sauce comes together so nicely and the flavors are just amazing. It just takes a little time management at the beginning. Meaning you need to watch the butter closely and add the pancetta, sage and garlic at the right time so that the butter browns while crisping everything up.
Once the pancetta has browned a bit, the sage is crisp and the garlic is fragrant, add your cooked gnocchi to the pan and gently stir and turn everything together. You can do this for as long as you like. I just stir until the gnocchi is hot again and coated with the butter.
Making the gnocchi dough
No eggs required! 1 cup canned pumpkin (or fresh!), 2 cups flour, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, salt, pepper and nutmeg. The nutmeg isn’t enough to be overpowering in the final dish, but just enough to enhance the pumpkin flavor.
Stir everything together until a craggy dough forms, it’ll be really pieced and dry. Once you turn it out onto the counter and knead it a little bit, it comes together into a nice, smooth and slightly tacky dough. You can always lightly sprinkle your work area with flour if you need to, but avoid adding more than an extra 1/4 cup of flour. We don’t want the gnocchi to be tough!
Once the dough is together and smooth, divide it into 4 equal parts and roll each part out into a log that’s about 1/2 inch around. From there, you can use a small knife to cut the logs into 1/2 inch pieces. They may stick together a bit, so again, you can toss them with a small amount of flour to help.
Shaping the pumpkin gnocchi
You can get yourself a gnocchi board if you really want them, but you don’t need them. If you have a fork, you’re all set. I did my best to show the shaping method with the set of three pictures below, since it’s hard to explain. But basically, hold the fork at a 45 degree angle with your non-dominant hand. Take one piece of dough at a time and use your thumb to hold it at the “top” of the fork where the tines meet the rest of the fork.
Using one motion with your thumb, gently but firmly drag the dough piece down the angled fork so that it “scrapes” down the tines and creates a little roll. The outside of the shaped piece should have ridges, while the inside part should have a small pocket. Both the ridges and the pocket are perfect for trapping sauce π
It’s going to take some getting used to, especially if you’ve never shaped gnocchi or worked with dough like this before. Be patient and keep going! There are plenty of little dough pieces to practice on. And ultimately, you don’t NEED to shape your pumpkin gnocchi for it to be delicious. You can boil it in the rounder, unshaped pieces and it will taste just the same.
Boil the pasta
After the gnocchi is shaped, bring some salted water to a rolling boil and cook the gnocchi in batches. I always do this in thirds or quarters, since I only use a 3 quart saucepan. While the water comes up to a boil, add a tablespoon of olive oil to a mixing bowl to catch the cooked pasta as it comes out. The oil will keep it from sticking together before you add it to the finished sauce.
ALSO, be sure to save some of the pasta water! You’ll need it to deglaze the skillet of sauce and get those delicious browned pancetta/butter bits from the bottom of the pan.
Make the sauce
The easiest part of this pumpkin gnocchi! Heat up your skillet, toast the butter until golden, fry the pancetta, sage and garlic until everything is crisp and fragrant. Add the cooked gnocchi and toss to coat.
Dinner is served and it is SO GOOD.
Print
Pumpkin Gnocchi with Crispy Pancetta and Sage
- Prep Time: 1 hour (making the pasta)
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour + 30 minutes
- Yield: approx 4 cups 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stovetop
- Cuisine: American/Italian
Description
This homemade pasta dish is the perfect fall dinner.
Ingredients
For the gnocchi:
- 1 cup pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1 TB olive oil
- 2 quarts water (for boiling)
- 1 TB salt (to add to the water for boiling)
For the sauce:
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 7–8 ounces pancetta
- 1/2–1 oz fresh minced sage (to taste)
- 2–3 cloves fresh minced garlic (or 2 tsp garlic paste)
- fresh grated parmesan cheese, to garnish if desired
Instructions
Make the gnocchi dough:
- Add the pumpkin puree, flour, parmesan, salt, pepper and nutmeg to a large mixing bowl and stir with a stiff spatula until a dry, craggy dough begins to form. Turn everything out onto a counter/work surface (do not add additional flour) and knead into a smooth dough. It should only take a few minutes for everything to come together.
- Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, working with one piece at a time. Roll each piece into a 1/2 inch wide rope and use a sharp knife to cut each rope into 1/2 inch pieces. Keep the pieces lightly dusted with flour as you cut them to keep them from sticking together. I keep my cut pieces in the bowl I mixed the dough in, and then sprinkle in a little flour to keep them loose.
- Once all 4 pieces of dough have been cut, begin shaping. Use your non dominant hand to hold a fork at a 45 degree angle. With the thumb on your dominant hand, roll each piece of dough from the top of the angled fork (where the tines meet the rest of the fork) down to the end of the tines. Use gentle pressure to create ridges on the outside of the dough piece as you press and roll it down the fork. It should curl onto itself a little and form a small divot on one side. See the pictures in post for a visual guide to shaping the gnocchi.
- As you shape the pieces, add the finished ones to a lightly floured sheet pan to rest before boiling. Add the tablespoon of olive oil to a mixing bowl to catch the cooked gnocchi as it comes out of the pot.
- Once all the gnocchi has been shaped, add 2 quarts of water to a large saucepan. Stir in the tablespoon of salt until dissolved. Bring the salted water to a rolling boil over medium high heat.
- Once the water is boiling, add the gnocchi in batches of thirds or quarters. Immediately after adding the gnocchi to the water, stir it well and allow the water to come back up to a boil. Within a minute, the gnocchi should begin to pop up to the surface and float.
- Once most of the gnocchi is floating and the water is boiling again, use a skimmer to remove the cooked pasta from the water and add it to the mixing bowl with the olive oil. Toss each batch as it goes into the bowl to coat with the oil. This will prevent it from sticking together while you make the sauce.
- After all the gnocchi is cooked, reserve about a cup of the pasta water. You’ll need it for the sauce.
To make the sauce:
- Add the butter to a skillet and melt over medium heat. The butter will melt, foam and sizzle. After the butter stops sizzling, watch it closely until it barely turns tan. It won’t take long, only about a minute.
- As soon as you see a slight change of color, add the pancetta and cook for about 2 minutes. There will be some water that is released, this is normal and it will evaporate before the pancetta begins to crisp and brown.
- After a few minutes, most of the liquid should be evaporated, leaving the butter and some grease behind. Add the minced sage and cook for another minute. Add the garlic and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant.
- At this point, there should be some deep golden bits on the bottom of the skillet. Use a few tablespoons of the reserved pasta water and use a spatula to deglaze the pan and pull all the browned things up and back into the sauce. The starch in the water will also make it easier for the sauce to cling to the gnocchi.
- Once the bottom of the skillet is cleared, add the gnocchi into the skillet and turn the heat to low. Gently toss and turn the gnocchi to coat in the butter sauce until warmed through.
- Serve immediately with fresh grated parmesan, if desired. Refrigerate any leftovers for up to a week.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/2 cup of gnocchi with butter sauce
- Calories: 318
- Sugar: 1.4 g
- Sodium: 812.1 mg
- Fat: 19.7 g
- Saturated Fat: 8.1 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 26.9 g
- Fiber: 1.8 g
- Protein: 8.1 g
- Cholesterol: 35.5 mg
